High-Level Leaders Dialogue: Green and Climate Resilience Bonds – Scaling up Access to Affordable Finance in Developing Countries, notably in LDCs

Tuesday, 26 April 2022 - 8:00am

Reports from the Inter-Agency Task Force on Financing for Development and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change raise the alarm bells on a lost decade for sustainable development and a shrinking window of opportunity to address the devastating impacts of climate change. Transitioning to a green, climate resilient global economy will require the mobilization of unprecedented capital. However, developing countries, notably LDCs and African countries, continue to have the lowest access to affordable finance. Improving developing countries’ capacity to leverage the potential of green and climate-resilient bonds could be a game-changer for financing nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and national adaptation plans (NAPs). However, green bonds still represent only a fraction of total bonds issued globally and only a small number of developing countries are accessing such market, notably in Africa, where in 2020, Africa still only accounted for 0.003% of total green bond issuance.

Building on UNCDF’s Sovereign Borrowers Conference held during the 2021 General Assembly, the Government of Malawi and Chair of the LDC Group, with UNCDF, UNDP and the GCF will bring together global leaders to highlight the actions needed for developing countries, particularly LDCs, to leverage debt markets to increase their access to affordable finance for climate action. Outcomes will contribute to “Our Common Agenda” and the Doha Programme of Action for LDCs.

Register here.